What's the deal with pageant queens nowadays? It used to be all they had to do was ace the swimsuit competition, smile, wave and never ever open their mouths for any reason whatsoever. The rules are fairly straightforward, after all: no underage drinking, no photographic documentation of your promiscuity, and no getting knocked up. Period.

And yet, contestant after contestant has managed to climb her way into infamy, with Miss USA and Miss Nevada grabbing headlines for their extremely unpageant-like (read: drunk and slutty) behavior. And now, along comes New Jersey.

The very state that recently laid a giant stinkbomb all over Manhattan is now hitting us with another bombshell: Ashley Harder, the current Miss New Jersey, will be abdicating her throne due to an unplanned bundle of joy. The 20-year old pageant-queen dropout does her very best to sound optimistic about the development, but we think you'll be able to read in between the lines:

Harder, 20, told the newspaper she voluntarily stepped down because it’s against pageant rules to compete while pregnant. She could not immediately be reached for comment by The Associated Press… Harder, 20, of Marlton, was crowned in October. She told the newspaper she’s expecting her child in “late summer” and plans to marry her live-in boyfriend.

Clearly, the girl carefully considered the possibility of waiting until she was (a) 21 years old, (b) married, and (c) no longer Miss New Jersey to have the child, but ultimately, the allure of a shotgun wedding with no career prospects in sight was "just too good" to pass up.